Great Balls of Fire!

source: Great Balls of Fire!

I must say I was surprised to find several positive comments to this turkey (in desperate need of a feather transplant)! I'm giving it a 1 because I think the idea of making a movie about the wild man of rock'n'roll - Jerry Lee Lewis, is honorable, but it's a shame to put out such trash and the "killer" does not deserve this! It's a good thing it came late in his career... they said Elvis practically ruined his career with the movies he put out through the sixties and this could have done the same for Jerry lee, had it come out some 15-20 years earlier! It's based on Myra Gail Lewis book and that's a shame to begin with. It's a bad and inaccurate story of her life together with Lewis and there is far better books about the Killer, that could have made a much better and more interesting script. Add to this a bunch of actors who doesn't know if they are participating in a drama, comedy or a little bit of both! The otherwise fine actor Dennis Quaid is putting on what must be one of the worst performances of an actor in many a moon! He is walking around in the picture, talking about his "god-given talent" and as a spectator, you wish he'd show some of it on the screen too! Silly gestures and funny faces and Jerry Lee must have felt betrayed when he saw what had become of him in this truly awful movie! The rest of the crew is almost as bad... save for Winona Ryder, who does her best with the crappy lines given to her. It's "Grease" all over again and whenever Jerry Lee take a ride around Memphis in his convertible, having the radio on in the car, the whole town is dancing to the music from it! Everybody in this movie are like cartoon figures of the real people involved... from the wild man himself to Sun Records Sam Philips! And it's a damn shame! A charismatic and interesting artist like Jerry Lee Lewis deserves better and I hope he took the 500.000 dollars he got from the deal and told the company to go f**k themselves... twice!

It's really just terrible. Quaid overacts more than Shatner. The part where Elvis walks in and says "You can have it all" just kills anything that might have been good in this movie that's bad enough as it is. Drug use was completely snow coated, the only thing that had anything to do with his life was the bit about him wedding his cousin. Quaid also looks nothing like Lewis and has dark roots and eyebrows. I wish this could be re-made in the future with someone who doesn't try so hard. A bigger budget wouldn't hurt and maybe more about his actual life. I was very, very disappointed in Quaid. Don't watch this movie or you will be too.

An excellent job by director Jim McBride of putting Myra Lewis's book about the life of legendary rock and roll star Jerry Lee Lewis (her husband) on film. Dennis Quaid gives an over the top performance (sometimes a bit too over the top; but, then again, this is Jerry Lee Lewis) as Lewis, arrogant and child-like, trying to deal with sudden fame, having to deal with the consequences of having married his thirteen year old cousin (Myra, who authored the book). Quaid was truly excellent in this role. Yes, the lip-synching was perhaps a bit too obvious at times, but for the sake of hearing some great music performed by the real Jerry Lee Lewis, that was an irritant I could easily put up with. The relationship between Lewis and Myra (Winona Ryder) is developed sensitively and tastefully by McBride. Humour is added by exploring the complex love-hate relationship between Lewis and his cousin, the evangelist Jimmy Swaggart (Alec Baldwin). There is also great irony, given what ultimately happened to Swaggart, as we listen to him lecturing Lewis about the dangers of taking the "gold-paved streets of rock and roll." I really enjoyed this movie. Perhaps it was guilty of portraying everyone in it as a bit of a caricature, but it still seemed to offer an entirely believable story of Lewis's life. Well worth the watching. 9/10

Being a fan of Jerry Lee Lewis since he began rockin' way back in the 1950s, this movie is a bit of a disappointment overall. The "bad" outweighs the "good" in here, story-wise. GOOD - The music - naturally! There is some great music in here, featuring Dennis Quaid as the entertaining rockabilly-rock-country singer who surely will go down as the one of the great entertainers of his generation. Quaid lip-syncs the songs, but that okay. They sound better with Lewis doing the singing. The movie is colorful, entertaining and fast-moving. Wynona Ryder looks really cute, too. BAD - There is a little bit too much emphasis on Lewis' brother, Jimmy Swaggart (Alec Baldwin) and, of course, they make him look like some fanatical religious preacher. Hey, I'm not a "charismatic" follower but there was an obvious bias in here and it wasn't necessary. Also, the writers actually made Lewis look a sympathetic victim for the criticism he got marrying his 13-year-old cousin! Only in the film-making world do we see poor morals given the thumbs-up. Sorry, Jerry Lee, but marrying your 13-year-old cousin warrants a bit of criticism! I later discovered this movie was based on a book by that the same "girl," so it's no wonder it makes that relationship look "legitimate." The ending was not appropriate, either. Most of the characters in this film were exaggerated to the degree that they all look cartoonish. This movie could have been so much better with a more objective look at Jerry Lee's life and people in it.

Despite all the great music, I was very disappointed with this film for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is a very rough interpretation of real events, and in places extremely so. Certain key characters are portrayed incorrectly - notably Jack Clement and Sam Phillips - but most importantly it is the persona of Jerry Lee himself that is of concern. I certainly don't blame Dennis Quaid for this; his performance is suitably crazed and his on-stage antics are at times reminiscent of The Killer in his prime. But Quaid was clearly instructed to play the role more as a comic turn than as the troubled and conflicted man that Lewis was at the time. In fact, the whole film is positioned as some sort of over-the-top comedy, and some of the lowest points of Lewis's life are treated with, at best, a kind of dark slapstick. There are also some more minor details which I personally disagreed with. In some ways, getting Lewis himself to re-record many of his classic hits was a good idea and added more immediacy to the 'live' performances than the old and familiar recordings would have done. However, in parts of the film where actual records of his songs were playing, I believe the originals should have been used to add authenticity. This raises the wider point of the fact that Dennis Quaid lip-syncs at all. Ever since Gary Busey, Don Stroud and Charles Martin Smith performed every song completely live in The Buddy Holly Story, anything less has been (rightly or wrongly) seen as some sort of cop-out in rock biopics. Lip-syncing has been used with minor success in films such as Ray, but there is an argument that says you should allow whichever actor you have entrusted to play a rock legend the opportunity to undertake the most important aspect of the character - the musical performance. Another issue with the film is one of its main themes - the relationship between Jerry Lee and Myra, which is handled rather clunkily. The resolution between Lewis and Myra's father is sudden and unexplained, and the relationship somehow goes from being completely taboo to accepted and even normal in a very short time. I'm not surprised that this film was disliked by the Killer himself. It makes light of extremely serious chapters in his life and misrepresents certain people who were dear to him. In my view, it is never a good idea to take a real story and tailor it for your own preference in the hope of entertaining people. Usually, the real story - and in this case, the real man - is much more interesting.

This movie has some of the worst acting I've ever seen. Dennis Quaid's performance was high school caliber. While it's difficult to portray an off-the-wall character like Jerry Lee Lewis, it can be done. Just ask Jamie Foxx (although Ray Charles had more depth to his personality and musicianship than Lewis ever dreamed of possessing). The Phillips brothers portrayal belonged in The Dukes of Hazzard, and Alec Baldwin playing Jimmy Swaggart is a bit like Donald Duck performing Shakespeare. When Robert Duvall played a country preacher, I bought it. Baldwin never made me believe a single word. Wynona Ryder's part was the best, and she was mediocre. (And can anyone figure out how she was 13 when Lewis met her and still 13 more than a year later?) Some checking on the Internet reveals the essential facts presented by the film were true, at least no more fouled-up than most Hollywood bio pics. This film did badly at the box office, and it should have.

Great Balls of Fire! is beyond a doubt one of the best movies I have ever seen. It's entertaining, funny, and gives an up close and personal look at the greatest rock star of the 50s. No, not Elvis, I'm talking about Jerry Lee Lewis! Before the movie I had never even heard of him, now he is one of my all-time favorite performers. Trust me, I was 9 years old when this movie came out, and if a movie is so good a 9 year old will pipe-down and watch, then you know its a excellent movie. So do yourself a favor and rent or buy this fantastic movie. ciao bella!

Speaking in hindsight, Dennis Quaid has recently gone on record as saying he should've taken the filmmakers' advice and brought his portrayal of real-life hellraising singer/piano player Jerry Lee Lewis down a notch or two. However, it's precisely Quaid's energy (and the accomplished 1950s period flavor) that keeps this otherwise undistinguished movie going. It's one-half rollicking musical-bio, and the other half an unsteady riches-to-rags tale. Jerry Lee finds his bombastic stage presence hard to shake off in life, rising to the top of the charts--and about to steal the rock 'n roll mantle from Elvis P.--until a marriage to his under-aged second cousin causes a backlash that lasted many years. Fashioned like a live-action cartoon, it's something of a drag when the filmmakers eventually pull out all the usual tried-and-tired clichés, boozy depression and angry rebellion. Winona Ryder, as Quaid's teen bride, struggles with a sketchy role; in fact, all the supporting characters are one-dimensional compared to Lewis. Quaid (who lipsyncs to the vocals but played his own piano) rides roughshod over the whole shaky enterprise. ** from ****

During World War II, young Jerry Lee is with his cousin sneaking into a dance hall in the black section of town. His cousin says that's the devil's music, and Jerry Lee agrees--but to him that's a good thing. In the 1950's, Jerry Lee is performing that 'devil's music', and quite good at it. We see him go to Sam Phillips, the man who made Elvis a star. Will he be the next Elvis? He might very well be that talented. Phillips is very impressed, and his record becomes a hit. Once Elvis goes into the army, Lewis has his chance to become as big as the King, if not bigger. What may have been his downfall, if this movie is accurate, is his marriage to his second cousin Myra. The English do not approve, and Americans aren't much more receptive. Dennis Quaid does a great job, although it is apparently Lewis himself doing the singing. But Quaid pounds that piano and behaves wildly and shows a lot of passion and energy. I did enjoy the music, even though I usually like my music softer. It's amazing Lewis' music was banned by radio stations, because his songs get played on the station where I listen to Frank Sinatra, Perry Como and Nat King Cole. Winona Ryder is a delight, especially when Myra goes shopping after the wedding. Steve Allen looks surprisingly young playing himself, and he seems to be having a good time. Elvis appears briefly several times, played by Michael St. Gerard, who portrayed the King in a 1990 TV bio. Elvis doesn't say much, but he does look the part. In one scene he and a girl are in bed together watching Lewis perform on TV, and the girl seems to want to do 'a whole lotta shaking'. Footage of others watching Lewis is shown (though they are probably watching something else). Included are a shocked Ward and June Cleaver. 'Patricia' by Perez Prado seems appropriate for the scene where Jerry Lee and Myra wonder whether to tell Myra's parents. The organ has the whimsical, playful quality that is such a big part of Myra's character, the trumpet section reflects Lewis' wild streak, and the trombones sound like Myra's father probably will after he gets the news. While there were negatives in Lewis' life, this movie doesn't really make these look as bad as it could have. I found the movie entertaining as a whole.